Spacer for garment hangers



Dec. 9, 1969 T.-J. FERGUSON SPACER FOR GARMENT HANGERS Filed July 18, 1968 HWEA/TOR 750 J. FERGUSON ATTORNEY United States Patent "ice 3,482,746 SPACER FOR GARMENT HANGERS Ted J. Ferguson, 411 S. Wabash, Glendora, Calif. 91740 Filed July 18, 1968, Ser. No. 745,771 Int. Cl. A47j 51/00 US. Cl. 223-85 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A spacer is provided for a garment hanger. The spacer consists of a molded elastically flexible strap having a groove in one side along the longitudinal center line of the strap. The strap is adapted to be snapped into position about the inside of the hook of a garment hanger in such a way that the hook engages in the strap groove. When the hook is engaged over a hanger supporting rod, the spacer strap engages the rod to prevent twisting of the hanger relative to the rod, space the hanger from adjacent hangers to prevent tangling of garments on the hangers, and facilitates sliding movement of the hanger along the rod. The spacer may be made in different colors for decorative and/or identification purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates generally to garment hangers and more particularly to a novel spacer for garment hangers.

Prior art A typical garment hanger has an upper hook portion to be placed over a supporting rod and a lower transverse bar-like portion to support a garment. In some cases the hook portion and garment bar portion of the hanger are fashioned in one piece from the length of slender metal rod or wire. In other cases, the hook portion is fashioned from a metal rod or wire and the garment bar portion is separately fashioned from Wood, plastic, or the like. The hook portion may have a single or double wire construction. As will appear from the ensuing description, the present spacer may be employed to advantage on all of these various types of garment hangers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The spacer of the present invention comprises a plastic metal strap which is constructed and arranged to fit about the inside of the hook portion of a garment hanger. When the hook portion is placed over a supporting rod, the strap seats against the rod to prevent twisting of the hanger relative to the rod and facilitates sliding movement of the hanger along the rod. The width of the strap, normal to the plane of the hanger hook portion, is substantially greater than the corresponding width of either portion of the hanger. Because of this relatively wide width of the spacer strap, the latter is effective to space adjacent hangers so as to prevent tangling of garments on the hangers. According to an additional important feature of the invention, the present spacer may be fabricated in different colors for decorative purposes or to identify the garments of different persons.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a side elevation illustrating a number of garment hangers equipped with spacers according to the invention and hung side by side on a hanger supporting rod;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged section taken on line 22 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 illustrating 3,482,746 Patented Dec. 9, 1969 the manner of installation of the present garment hanger spacer;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of the spacer per se; and FIGURE 5 is an enlarged section taken on line 55 in FIGURE 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to these drawings, there is illustrated a typical one-piece wire hanger 10 and a typical two-piece hanger 12. The wire hanger 10 is fashioned in one piece from a length of wire or slender metal rod and includes an upper hook portion 14 and a lower transverse garment bar portion 16. The two-piece hanger 12 has an upper hook portion 18 and a lower garment bar portion 20 which are formed separately and then joined in any convenient way. Attached to the hook portion of each hanger is a spacer 22 according to the invention.

Spacer 22 comprises a plastic strap which is secured to and extends about the inside of the hanger hook portion 14 or 18, as the case may be. Accordingly, when the hook portion is placed over a hanger supporting rod 24, the strap seats against the rod to facilitate sliding movement of the hanger along the rod. According to an important feature of the invention, the width of the spacer strap 22 normal to the plane of the hook portion, is made substan tially greater than either the hook portion or the garment bar portion 16, 20 of the hanger. This relatively greater width of the strap renders the latter effective to space adjacent hangers, as shown in FIGURE 1, as well as to prevent twisting of the hangers relative to the supporting rod 24 and thereby avoid tangling of garments on the hangers.

According to another feature of the invention, the present spacer strap 22 is made in the form of an attachment to be releasably secured to the hanger hook portion 14, 18. To this end, the strap is elastically flexible and is molded from a suitable resilient plastic. The particular strap illustrated, for example, has a generally channel shape in transverse cross-section and includes a central web portion 26 and flanges 28 along the longitudinal edges of the web portion. Along its longitudinal center line, the web portion 26 is offset toward the side of the flanges 28 so as to define at the opposite side of the Web portion a groove 30 along the longitudinal center line of the strap.

As shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the spacer strap 22 is applied to a hanger hook portion 14 or 18 by bending the strap into a generally U-shaped in such a way that the grooved face of the strap is outermost. The strap is then inserted laterally into the hanger hook portion in the manner shown in FIGURE 3 so that the strap in effect snaps into position within the hook portion. In the final position of installation of the spacer strap, the latter extends about the inner side of the hook portion, and the hook portion engages in the strap groove 30 to retain the hook portion and strap against relative displacement laterally of the plane of the hook portion. It is evident that the illustrated spacer strap 22 may be conveniently mass produced at low cost by an injection molding technique. According to a feature of the invention, the spacer may be made in various colors for decorative purposes and/or to identify the garments of different persons.

What is claimed as new in support of Letters Patent is:

1. In combination:

a garment hanger comprising an upper hook portion to be placed over a hanger supporting rod and a lower transverse portion to hold a garment,

a spacer comprising a relatively stiff though elastically flexible plastic strap extending about the inside of said hook portion for seating engagement with said rod, said strap having an outer surface facing said said strap in position about the inside of said hookportion. 2. The'combination according to claim 1 wherein: said strap'comprises a unitary molded plastic member of generally channel shape in transverse cross section and uniform wall thickness throughout, and said strap includes a Web portion having an inwardly 3. A-spacer attachment to be fitted on the hook of a garment hanger comprising:

- a relatively stifl though elastically flexible plastic strap stepped section along its longitudinal center line defining said groove, and inwardly directed flanges along the longitudinal edges of said web portion.

having a groove in one outer side face along the 1ongitudinal center line of the strap and adapted to be snapped into position about the-insideof said-hook in such a way that said, groove receives said hook, and

said strap comprising a unitary molded plastic member of generally channel shape .in transverse cross section and uniform wall thickness throughout, and said strap including a web portion having an inwardly offset section along'its longitudinal center line defining said groove and inwardly directedaflang'es' along the longitudinal edges of said 'Web portion."

References Cited' v UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,398,873 4/1946 Ward 22386 2,822,086 2/1958 Franks "24 23o.s 2,910,215 10/1959 A len 223.-9s 3,024,953. 3/1962 .Okeefe 2223 -88 3,112,050 11/1953 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner G. H. KRIZMANICH;"Assistant Examiner 

